THE Electoral Supervisory Commission (ESC) has confirmed that the
run-up to the rural district and urban council elections which end today, was
marred by violence.

In a statement, an official of the ESC, Thomas Bvuma, said police had in
some cases confirmed the incidents, giving credence to opposition MDC claims
that violence has marred the contest.‘’Political campaigning officially started
soon after the nomination of candidates. The ESC received reports from monitors
of incidents of politically motivated violence.

Most of the cases involved mutual accusations by political parties. They
included skirmishes between MDC and Zanu PF. Some cases were corroborated by the
police, others were not,” said Bvuma.

In Hurungwe West, where there is a by-election taking place concurrently
with council elections, Nikoniari Chabvamudeve, a Movement for Democratic Change
member, was axed to death last Saturday in the Chivende communal area by
suspected Zanu PF supporters as the violence flared. Chabvemudeve was brutally
killed by youths suspected to have been deployed to the area by Zanu PF to drum
up support for its candidate.

The youths were moving around in three pick up vehicles. Police
spokesperson Chief Inspe-ctor Bothwell Mugariri confirmed the murder but said
Chabvemudeve had been one of those involved in political violence. “The deceased
was among those who tortured people at Guvhenga Township,’’ said Inspector
Mugariri.

Nine youths have since been arrested in connection with the murder. The
Hurungwe West by-election is being held following the death of Marko Madiro of
Zanu PF. Phone Madiro, brother of the late Madiro, is standing on a Zanu-PF
ticket while Justin Dandawa is representing MDC. The campaign period has,
however, been marked by violence.

Militant Zanu PF youths have unleashed a reign of terror in the area
forcing Dandawa to flee his rural home. Only last week, a teacher at a local
primary school was forced into hiding after MDC cards were found in his
possession.

The Electoral Supervisory Commission has also admitted that the campaign
process was fraught with violence. “The ESC received reports from monitors of
incidents of politically-motivated violence,” it said in a statement. Meanwhile,
elections got off to a slow start in many rural districts.

DESPITE being slapped with travel
sanctions by the European Union, newminister for industry and international
trade, Samuel Mumbengegwi, justloves being in Europe

And he can't
help bragging about it, especially when surrounded by Europeansand being
treated to a lavish reception.

Contacted by The Standard on Friday to
comment on the delayed appointment ofa new substantive University of
Zimbabwe vice chancellor whilst he was theminister of higher education,
Mumbengegwi took the opportunity to brag aboutthe good treatment he was
receiving in Brussels, Belgium. "Ndiri kuBrussles.Mukati kati me Europe.
Unokuziva here kuBrussels? (I am in Brussels, rightin the heart of Europe.
Do you know anything about Brussels?) he asked. "It's a high delegation
meeting and they are rolling out red carpets for me allover. Ndiri pakati
pavo varungu (I am right there among the whites)," saidan elated
Mumbengegwi.

He is one of the Mugabe ministers who have been slapped with
biting travelsanctions by the EU but he has been allowed to travel to
Belgium to attendthe European Union/African Caribbean and Pacific nations
trade talks on thebasis of the Cotonou Agreement. Already a row has erupted
over his presencein Brussels with members of the European parliament and
Zimbabwe'sopposition seeing no reason why members of the Mugabe regime who
have beenslapped with targeted EU sanctions should be allowed in any EU
country.

MASVINGO-Graduates of the national
youth service training programmehave flooded Masvingo Teachers' College,
raising fears that there may not bean intake for January
2003.

Authoritative sources at the
college, located a few kilometres outsideMasvingo, told The Standard on
Thursday that the recruitment exercise whichkicked off this month, was "too
excessive".

"There are over 700
newly recruited first year student teachers atMasvingo Teachers College, the
majority of whom are graduates of the BorderGezi training
institution.

In normal circumstances, the
college recruits around 350 students andit has already come to light that
the college will not recruit next Januaryfor the 2003 intake," said an
official who asked to remain anonymous.

The Border Gezi youths were drafted into the training programme at thelast
minute forcing the college authorities to reschedule their
timetables.

According to investigations by
this paper, apart from the recruits,the majority of the students are related
to well known Zanu PF officials andtop civil
servants.

A visit to Masvingo Teachers
College on Thursday this week revealed adining hall overcrowded with first
year students who could not fit intotheir normal lecture
rooms.

Efforts to obtain comment from the
principal, Ms Sharai Chakanyuka,were fruitless as she was said to be away on
college business at the time ofThe Standard's visit. But other first year
students who spoke on conditionof anonymity said the conditions at the
college were not conducive toserious
studying.

"We are too congested here.
There is no fresh air in the lecture roomsdue to overcrowding. I don't know
whether those responsible for recruitingwere in their right senses, but
recruiting such a huge number of students atone go deserves to be condemned
in the strongest terms," said one
malestudent.

The Zanu PF government,
under pressure to secure employment for therestless youths, has ordered
state institutions to give them priority whenthey have
vacancies.

But
hardly six months later, villagers in the drought-strickendistricts of
Mwenezi and Chiredzi are regretting having turned out in theirthousands on
9, 10 and 11 March, to give their vote to
Mugabe.

Hunger continues to knock on their
doors despite Mugabe's pledge thatno-one in Zimbabwe would starve, so long
as he was in charge. Now, whileMugabe is safely ensconced in State House,
the villagers continue to wallowin abject poverty with no reprieve in
sight.

"It's the same old story-Mugabe
promises us so much when elections areclose but forgets us for good when he
gets the vote he needs.

This time around,
it's more painful because we can die of starvationanytime," says 70-year-old
Machingauta Karowa, of Boli village in ChiredziSouth, who has unsuccessfully
gone around the two districts looking
formaize.

Mwenezi and Chiredzi are the
two districts of Masvingo province thatoverwhelmingly voted for Mugabe in a
presidential election marred byviolence, intimidation and allegations of
poll rigging. But the districts,dubbed the poorest of the poor in Zimbabwe
by the United Nations DevelopmentProgramme (UNDP) in 1986, have not
experienced a reversal of fortune, as
aresult.

Apart from lagging behind in
terms of development, they have in thepast experienced perennial drought,
hunger, disease and unemployment.Villagers now believe that the only reason
why they are important togovernment is to provide the votes needed to ward
off opposition partieslike the MDC. About three weeks ago, Masvingo governor
Josaya Hungwe paid avisit to the area where he repeated the message that was
so dear to thestarving masses before hunger began to take its
toll.

Said Hungwe: "We were pleased by
your support of President Mugabeduring the March elections. I have come here
to thank you the people ofChiredzi South, Mwenezi and Chikombedzi, for your
overwhelming vote."Mwenezi was the country's second best constituency after
Uzumba MarambaPfungwe with Chiredzi doing its level best," said an elated
Hungwe. He saidthe government would make sure no-one in the area died of
hunger.

He then drove off leaving
starvation-ravaged villagers starring afterhis ministerial vehicle. In this
remote part of the countryside, peasants gofor days without food. Shalati
Manyise of Gezani told The Standard last weekthat she was concerned at Zanu
PF's shameless hypocrisy.

"Some of us are
surviving on the wild fruits of the Majimwinimountains and yet someone can
still come here and make the same fakepromises we always hear towards
election time. We are tired of hearing them."We have been used, lied to,
taken advantage of and then discarded shortlyafter crucial elections have
taken place. I don't know why people are notlearning from past experiences.
What worries me most is that we, the lessprivileged, the neglected, the
poor, are the ones who always give Zanu PFthe vote," said a fuming
Manyise.

Gezani Mashophani, of
Chikombedzi, noted that it was usual fordistricts such as Chiredzi,
Beitbridge and Mwenezi to be remembered towardselection time. "Does it mean
that Shangaan and Vendah speaking people existonly to vote for Zanu PF? When
it comes to developmental issues such asconstruction of hospitals, clinics
and roads, they are not remembered,"
saidMashopani.

The districts' major
rivers such as Runde, Save and Mwenezi havelow-lying bridges which flood
during the rainy season. "I am now regrettinghaving voted for Zanu PF
instead of the opposition MDC. I think in future,the people should
experiment with new governments so they can get rid of theone that has
overstayed its welcome," said Mashopani.

BULAWAYO-The World Food Programme
(WFP) which is struggling to feedover six million hungry Zimbabweans, has
made an urgent appeal todispossessed farmers through Justice for Agriculture
(JAG) to providetransport to carry food aid to the starving rural
masses.

The WFP was repeating an appeal
made earlier this year.

The transport
details contained in the WFP appeal include lorries,trailers, and
articulated vehicles such as tractors and
horse-drawntrailers.

JAG spokesperson,
Jenni Williams, confirmed WFP's urgent appeal tofarmers and said the farmers
could have the transport the organisation
wasseeking.

"The appeal was made a
long time ago and it was renewed recently and Ihope the farmers have the big
trucks that the WFP is looking for. Thefarmers will have to apply for their
trucks to be considered for use in thefood distribution exercise," said
Williams.

JAG has sent out a notice to the
farmers urging them to put to gooduse some of their derelict equipment and
machinery.

Thousands of farmers have been
thrown off their land and more stillrisk being driven out as government
intensifies its controversial landreform
programme.

The WFP and its implementing
partners, World Vision, CareInternational and Orap, has been facing
difficulties in transporting foodfrom depots to recipients in rural areas
throughout the country.

WFP spokesperson,
Makina Walker, confirmed that the organisationneeded transport but was not
able to give logistical details.

"We
advertised for transport but I can not give you details off-hand,"said
Walker.

LOBELS Bread (Pvt) Ltd, one of
Zimbabwe's major bread andconfectionery manufacturers, is said to be up for
grabs after managementdecided to dispose of it due to intense political
pressure. The baker, withoperations in Harare and Mutare, where it trades
under the Mitchels brand,is arguably the second largest in the country after
Innscor.

Standard Business is reliably
informed that NMB's Corporate FinanceDepartment has been mandated by Lobels
to oversee the disposal oftheirassets.

A manager in NMB's corporate finance services could not shed anylight,
citing client confidentiality. "This is all privileged information.What you
can do is put everything in writing and address it to Mr(Christopher)
Mutasa," said the manager.

Mutasa, the
bank's corporate finance manager said: "I have beentalking to people around
trying to establish the whole issue, but so farthere is nothing, so all I
can say is we can't comment at this moment,"Mutasa told Standard Business on
Friday.

Les Leroux, Lobels' acting
managing director, was equallyunforthcoming when contacted on Friday. "I'm
sorry I can't comment on that,the only person who can do that is Mr David
Long, our company consultant,who is away at the moment," Leroux
said.

Industry sources told Standard
Business last week that they estimatedLobels' value at between $600 million
and $650 million.

While no clear front
runner has emerged as yet, sources said blue chipconglomerate, Innscor
Africa, was an obvious force to contend with as it wasalready well
established in the industry and would naturally seek toincrease its market
dominance.

Said a source: "Innscor will
either eat into Lobels' market share withtheir existing operations, or will
acquire the bakery. Either way it is goodnews for Innscor because they stand
to improve their business as soon asLobels is out of the
way."

He, however, said it was possible
that government would want toinfluence the process by lobbying for an
investor friendly to Zanu PF totake over Lobels, as it felt bread was an
essential commodity which couldnot be allowed to be dominated by private
investors. It could possibly dothis by financing a preferred person through
a pension fund such as NSSA.

While erratic
supplies of wheat and other raw materials were impactingnegatively on the
baking industry, the sources said political pressure wasthe major force
behind management's move to dispose of Lobels, citing a raidearlier this
year on the company's premises by Zanu PF politicians, PhilipChiyangwa,
Saviour Kasukuwere and David Chapfika.

"Ever since that raid, they have been monitored closely on suspicionof
economic sabotage," said an informed
source.

"It would not be honest to cite
current economic problems as the mainreason behind the disposal of Lobels
because things are not desperate forthe industry. For example, one Innscor
factory has a monthly turnover ofabout $130 million, with a margin of aout
$8 million-Lobels should at thevery least be recording similar business,"
said the source.

The Zanu PF government
has all but blamed industrialists for thecurrent economic malaise which has
manifested itself in acute shortages ofbasic commodities such as bread,
mealie meal, cooking oil, sugar, and salt,among other essential
goods.

As has become the norm, government
last week implemented anotherpiecemeal measure when it announced that it had
suspended the 5% duty onwheat imports, in a desperate bid to alleviate the
current flour shortagewhich has seen families go without the traditional
bread at breakfast.

WITH news that the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) has institutedsteps to suspend Zimbabwe's voting rights
to pave way for an outrightejection from the international body, local
analysts say this could be theproverbial straw that broke the camel's back
for the country's strugglingeconomy which has so far defied all odds by
staying afloat.

The analysts said a
decision to suspend Zimbabwe's voting rights alonewould lead to a downward
revision of the country's projected economicperformance for 2002, which is
currently expected to shrink by 12%.

Industrialists and economic commentators told Standard Business lastweek
that the IMF's decision, announced a fortnight ago, had sounded thedeath
knell for the country's struggling industry which has seen over
500manufacturing companies close shop over the past two
years.

They said that the move could see a
wholesale departure by theremaining few countries that were still extending
credit facilities to thestruggling southern African
economy.

Said John Robertson, a
Harare-based economic consultant: "These extrameasures will really be
annoying to government which wants to take part ininternational affairs. We
should be a market player in internationalaffairs, but yet we are isolated
by the Commonwealth and moreover by theIMF. This will further damage our
credit worthiness.

"We already have a bad
record and that will be made worse by ourisolation. Nobody will help us if
the IMF is not involved because it setsthe pace for every entry. We are
doing the wrong thing and failing toattract the people we
need."

A fortnight ago the executive board
of the IMF decided to initiate theprocedure to suspend Zimbabwe's voting and
related rights in the body fornot co-operating adequately with the fund in
resolving its overdue financialobligations. Zimbabwe's arrears to the fund
amount to 33% of its quota inthe fund.

Group chief executive of Surgimed Trading and chairman of
TrinidadIndustries, Danny Meyer, said the country was inclined to lose
itsestablished markets abroad as customers and clients will have to
contendwith thoughts of whether their supplier will be able to continue
providingproducts.

"Our credit rating
is definitely going to plunge further down. It isgoing to affect our
business directly in the sense that it is a purereflection of the way we are
managing our economy. The few remaining tradingpartners are bound to
reexamine trading relations with businesses in thecountry and may scout for
other markets," said Meyer.

However
Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries acting chief executive,Farai Zizhou,
felt the decision would not have a telling effect on theeconomy as Zimbabwe
was already isolated by the international
community.

"The issue of credit is almost
a non issue. Even our colleagues inSouth Africa are demanding cash upfront.
Although there are many people whotake a cue from the IMF, the picture is
already bad and any such move willnot make it really bad," said
Zizhou.

A PERENNIAL African problem is
the bad press the continent gets,particularly in the western world. More
often than not, the images of Africaone sees projected from the west are of
war, hunger, economic collapse andother symbols of
dysfunctionalism.

Among the reasons we
give for why negative news about Africa from thewest predominate are: racism
against the non-western world-particularlytowards blacks; ignorance about
the complexity of the continent;socio-cultural-religious arrogance that
assumes the whole world must conformto a western standard, and so
on.

I want to delve into some of the ways
in which we as Africans alsocontribute greatly to the world's image of
Africa as a sort of basket casecontinent that can't seem to get too many
things right.

Africa has miserably failed
to live up to its independence promise toitself, of a new era of
post-colonial freedom and prosperity for its
people.

Just like yesterday's racist
colonial governments, African governmentstoday find all sorts of reasons to
justify why Africans are not quiteentitled to the degree of political and
other freedoms that many people inthe world increasingly take for
granted.

Despotic governme-nts are
certainly not confined to Africa, but theyare the norm rather than the
exception here.

Independence has simply
not brought with it an improvement of thefreedoms of Africans nor the
security over the colonial era that one wouldhave hoped for, and that the
world would have expected. Mugabe's apparatusof control is not that
different to Smith's.

The beggar mentality
has become so entrenched that Africa expects tobe a perpetual recipient of
assistance. When Mugabe is rejected by the westwhose approval and largess he
sought and valued so much, he does not takethat as an opportunity to explore
greater self-sufficiency, he looks for
newbenefactors.

The result is that
even our 'friends' see us as always asking for onefavour or another and
never quite being able to relate to the non-Africanworld as
equals.

Even in the quite justifiable
assertion that Britain and otherEuropean countries cannot just walk away
from the after-effects of theircolonial pasts as easily as they would like,
there is an undignified whiningtone. It is a childish, petulant cry along
the lines of "if you don't liveup to your post-colonial responsibilities, we
will try to cause you greatembarrassment and discomfort, even if it means
saying and doing things whichwill further impoverish
us!"

I am not one to pretend Africa hasn't
benefited in countless ways fromits interactions with the west, like many of
our thoroughly westernisedpoliticians hypocritica-lly do. Yet the benefits
of that interaction weremostly merely incidental to the exploitation of
Africa.

The great benefit of literacy, for
instance, was imparted to thenatives not so much for their development but
to make them more useful tothe
colonisers.

Africa's greater reluctance
than other previously colonised peoples tocome to terms with the many things
it has gained from interaction with thewestern world, has had deep effects
on how we are perceived and how weinteract with the west and the rest of the
world.

One of them is that we simply look
ridiculous pretending to be hatersof the west and all things western. We
find it very difficult to say "we don't like the white westerners for the
way they mistreated and dispossessedus, but this or that idea they
introduced was a very good one that weembrace
wholeheartedly."

The effects of this? We
think we are being terribly clever in seekinginvestment and technology from
the east, without being aware that most of itreally originates from the
currently dominant west!

A country like
Vietnam, for example, almost carpet bombed intooblivion by the US a few
decades ago, has arguably even more reason toresent that country than
Zimbabwe has to be suspicious of Britain. Yet oneof the ways that Vietnam is
moving forward economically is by attractingAmerican tourism and influencing
a lot of American information technologycompanies to assemble their products
there.

Malaysia's Mahathir Mahommed may
spout the same anti-western rhetoricas our Mugabe, but he has also over the
decades made sure his country hasdeveloped strong economic and technological
ties with the west. As a resultof a the wariness of the West, tempered with
a smart pragmatism, a countrythat was developmentally on a par with us a few
decades ago, has forgedahead, leaving us way behind, choking in the dust of
Mugabe's emptyrhetoric.

Now, Mugabe
sends delegations to Malaysia and other Asian countries tobeg for this or
for that, when if he had been a more enlightened leaderthese last 22 years,
we might have had some of those countries coming tolearn from us for a
change.

At any given time, there are all
sorts of armed conflicts in Africa,the world's poorest continent, between
and within countries. I think it isentirely reasonable for someone sitting
in New York or Kualar Lumpar to askwhy if a country like Zimbabwe finds it
so easy to participate in foreignwars to the tune of billions of dollars in
the form of planes, tanks, fueland the other paraphernalia of conflict, they
can't raise a fraction of thatcost to ward off starvation in the middle of
drought, or to help otherAfrican countries in non-military
ways.

How often do you hear of an African
country sending substantialnumbers of troops or aid workers to help another
African country with floodrelief or other humanitarian assistance? We don't
mind going to Westerncountries to buy the latest military hardware with the
little hard cash wehave in order to oppress or kill ourselves, but let there
be a littledrought or flood, and we expect, as a matter of course, the
westerners tocome and bail us out! They usually do, but at the cost of a
loss ofself-respect for our warped sense of priorities and reluctance to
constructand help ourselves.

Those of
us who are fortunate to be part of the minuscule number ofAfricans with
above average education and some measure of economic security,are as much a
disgrace to Africa as our corrupt, violent, dull geriatricpoliticians.
Instead of using our relative privilege to be risk takers interms of
challenging the corrupt, oppressive ruling elites; or to create andinnovate,
we capitulate to that tenuous security.

After all, we are able to meet our monthly mortgage, car and creditcard
payments, and if we are good boys and girls we might be promoted atwork next
year. "And look, we have satellite TV and the latest Nokiacellphones! Our
lives aren't so different from those of the whites," we saydefensively. So
Africa can't be in such a bad state,can it? Why create waveswhich would get
us into trouble when we are so much better off and saferthan 99% of our
countrymen?

And so we justify why we don't
have any role to play in arresting thedecline and continued disgrace of our
continent by the likes of RobertMugabe and others like him. Yet for all our
fear and convenience-filledjustification, for looking the other way while
Africa becomes moredysfunctional and helpless, the badge of being the
leading citizens of acontinent that just doesn't quite work follows us where
ever we go, whetherit be London to work, Stuttgart to order the latest
Mercedes, or New York tostudy.

Africa's image will not change for the better because westerners andothers
decide to do us a favour by having a change of heart about how theyperceive
us. It will do so when the world sees Africans working for theirown
interests more seriously than we are doing
now.

THE spotlight is
once again on the relevance and the credibility ofthe Commonwealth following
the inconclusive outcome of the three-nationCommonwealth meeting in Nigeria
last week to discuss the human tragedy thathas been unfolding in Zimbabwe
during the past two-and-half-years.

There
are commentators who have been making the point that forPresidents Thabo
Mbeki and Olusegun Obasanjo to fawn over one man, PresidentMugabe, at the
expense of 13 million Zimbabweans is nothing short ofcriminal. There are yet
others, represented by none other than theSecretary-General of the
commonwealth, Don McKinnon, who have noted that theCommonwealth is about the
only international institution which has notwalked away from the Zimbabwean
crisis.

"We are about the only one left
engaging, trying to influence, tryingto encourage, trying to get ahead of
Zimbabwe's problems. If everyone elsewas there, we might see quite a
different picture, so don't taint us forbeing the only institution trying to
do something," he said.

Don Mckinnon added
that divisions within the Commonwealth overZimbabwe along colour lines-white
commonwealth versus black Commonwealth-were being over emphasised and bear
no resemblance to reality on the ground.The Australian Prime Minister, John
Howard, expressed more or less the samesentiments in answer to a question
whether the Commonwealth wasn't really 'atoothless
bulldog':

"I think the Commonwealth has
gone through difficulties like this inthe past and survived and I think it
will in the future."

We share these
notions and we think it is important to put on recordonce again that the
Commonwealth 'troika' meeting in Abuja cannot bedescribed as anything but a
mid-term review of Zimbabwe which was a specificmandate of the Commonwealth.
We should not, of course, lose sight of thestipulation of the 12
month-period within which Zimbabwe was supposed tomend its ways. It has not
yet done so and it is unlikely to reverse itsdestructive
policies.

There is therefore no cause to
celebrate the so-called black versuswhite Commonwealth 'victory'. The review
was no more than just that-amid-term review. Zimbabwe is still not out of
the woods, albeit that Nigeriaand South Africa adopted the approach in
keeping with simple logic: sixmonths is still to
run.

Yes, the Australian Prime Minister
John Howard did not hide hisdisappointment at the group's decision to
overrule his declared desire toimpose sanctions on President Mugabe. But
that did not mean that there wasno modicum of consensus among the three
leaders. If anything, there wasgeneral consensus that the country from
whence the Commonwealth's HarareDeclaration was born had violated each and
every principle contained in thatCommonwealth 'mission
statement'.

The principles included such
key issues as democracy, human rights,the rule of law, the independence of
the judiciary, freedom of expressionand association, the right of citizens
to choose freely the men and womenwho would govern them and an undertaking
to pursue sustainable economicdevelopment, among many other issues. Clearly,
there was some agreement thatZimbabwe had not mended her wayward
ways.

For had there been any progress on
the part of Zimbabwe, we might havefound the 'troika' expressing some praise
and perhaps encouraging andextolling Zimbabwe to continue on that path. John
Howard, on his part, didnot mince his words. His was more of a preventative
approach like a gooddoctor would undertake preventive care before a disease
becomes completelyunmanageable. Hence his call for the immediate full
expulsion of Zimbabwefrom the
Commonwealth.

For their part, Presidents
Mbeki and Obasanjo, while acknowledgingthat Zimbabwe had not performed to
expectation in the last six months, choseto give Zimbabwe the last chance in
the ensuing six months. Theirs wasperhaps a simple and inarguable stand
because six months are still to go notwithstanding the human misery of
enormous proportions that is taking placein the country. The six months
still to run were central to Mbeki andObasanjo's thinking. This is the
bottom line.

What emerges from all this,
and it would be folly to think otherwise -even with Mugabe buying more time
to continue with his wayward path- is thatthe 'troika' did accept clearly
Zimbabwe's dismal failure to address thoseissues that led to its
half-expulsion from the Commonwealth in March 2002.All three leaders were of
the same mind despite differences of emphasis thatlittle Zimbabwe had not
addressed the problems it was facing and that theCommonwealth will have to
review the country again in

March 2003-the
12-month anniversary of Zimbabwe's partial suspensionfrom the grouping.
There was therefore no need for the song and dance on thepart of Jonathan
Moyo and the media he personally controls. There wasabsolutely no need for
him to celebrate the rot that is going on in thiscountry and the untold
misery and suffering visited upon the people of
thisland.

Instead of concentrating
their minds on how to come up with lastingsolutions to shortages of
essential goods, long queues forming daily outsideshops and service stations
and prices that keep on rising every day,Jonathan Moyo and Stan Mudenge
simply chose John Howard and Don McKinnon asnew smokescreens to hide old but
growing problems.

It is a false picture
the two ministers are presenting. The fact ofthe matter is that the plight
of the poor to afford the most basic foods andother commodities and the
failure of the health care delivery system in theface of chronic illnesses
associated with malnutrition such as HIV/Aids, isbeing exacerbated by an
economy tittering on collapse.

But worse
of all is the absence of any meaningful protection of basichuman rights
because the rule of law is no more.

It has
been jettisoned by the sheer whim and caprice of those deludedto believe
that they have the divine right to govern this country. Indeed,the
anti-colonialist, anti-imperialist rhetoric by President Mugabe and
hiscourtiers continues to be increasingly strident, hollow and
completelyirrelevant to the pressing need to cure Zimbabwe of its political
andeconomic malaise.

Harare - Lawyers in Zimbabwe were on
Saturday trying to persuade police toallow a doctor attend to a prominent
young white opposition activist andfour of his colleagues, who were being
held in police cells after beingtortured by police.

Tom Spicer, 18,
and the other four were arrested on Thursday night onallegations of "public
violence" during an incident where police were stonedby a crowd in a Harare
township on Wednesday.

"He got lots of electroshock, was beaten on the
soles of the feet, in thekidneys", his father, Newton Spicer, said after
seeing him on Saturdaymorning for the first time since he was
arrested.

"The electroshock means he's bitten his tongue badly. His face
is allswollen."

As a result, he was unable to eat. The other Movement
for Democratic Changesupporters arrested with him were also assaulted, "but
they singled Tom outfor special treatment," Spicer said.

"Tom is
okay. It's horrible, but his spirit is good. He refuses to leave theother
guys he was with in prison," his father added.

Spicer has celebrity
status as the only young white person actively servingin the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change.

In the last year, he has been arrested 11
times. All nine cases brought tocourt have been dismissed by magistrates. He
has yet to appear in court onthe latest charge. On Saturday police allowed
the five prisoners to see alawyer.

Over the last three days, they
have been moved to three different policestations.

Lawyer Romualdo
Mavedzenge said police were obstructing the access of adoctor to the five
being held in the squalid cells of Matapi police stationin the Harare
township of Mbare.

"They are playing a game. We have to fill in a lot of
forms seekingpermission. Things move very slowly here when they have someone
they want tonail.

"They don't intend letting a doctor see him because
it will blow up in theirfaces. The earliest will probably after the weekend.
They will be in muchbetter shape by then," said Mavedzenge.

Spicer is
an office bearer of the MDC youth wing, who regularly deliversspeeches in
fluent Shona, winning huge popularity among ordinaryZimbabweans. -
Sapa-DPA

South Africa and other African countries will not bow to pressure to
"declare war" on Zimbabwe, Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad said this week. In
the South African government's strongest defence of its approach to the crisis
in Zimbabwe and a rare broadside against a Western power, Pahad said British
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw should come up with "concrete proposals" on how to
resolve the situation.

"We don't believe that their megaphone diplomacy and screaming from the
rooftops has helped anyway . . . If it is not diplomacy we pursue in dealing
with Zimbabwe, then it is war. We will not go to war with Zimbabwe," Pahad said.

"We do not need to be lectured to about democracy, respect for the rule of
law and human rights.

"Southern African states are conscious of our responsibility and of the
economic and political impact of the situation in Zimbabwe. But we cannot be
like people far away who keep shouting about Zimbabwe."

Pahad's comments were in response to Straw's disappointment at the outcome of
a meeting on Monday of the Commonwealth troika, made up of President Thabo
Mbeki, Nigeria's Olusegun Obasanjo and Australian Prime Minister John Howard,
which failed to reach consensus on further punitive action against Zimbabwe.

The two African leaders opposed Howard's attempts to impose full Commonwealth
suspension and sanctions on Zimbabwe, in addition to the year-long suspension
already in place. Full suspension would entail Commonwealth member states
ceasing trade with Zimbabwe, breaking all sporting links and isolating the
country diplomatically.

Straw said in London this week that he shared Howard's "acute disappointment"
about the failure of the troika to agree on tougher measures against Zimbabwe.

"We would wish to see particularly the Southern African governments exerting
greater pressure on the Mugabe regime," Straw said.

Pahad said Straw's criticism of the outcome of the meeting was a "hint at our
heads of state that they have a lack of commitment to deal with the issue".

"What are they proposing we should be doing? Jack Straw and others must tell
us what they expect the Southern African Development Community to do."

The leader of Zimbabwe's Opposition Movement for Democracy, Morgan
Tsvangirai, also slammed the outcome of the troika meeting as a "great
disappointment". He said the troika was supposed to "pursue the issue of
Mugabe's illegitimacy".

"Instead they have sought to divert from that critical issue and follow an
agenda that expresses solidarity with and protects Mugabe. They have totally
abdicated their responsibility to discharge their functions as mandated by the
Commonwealth," Tsvangirai said.

"They have abandoned Zimbabweans at their greatest hour of need. It is
increasingly futile for the troika to continue to profess concern and sympathy
for the plight of the people of Zimbabwe. Zimbabweans have been left to face
their own fate."

The statements by Pahad and Tsvangirai come ahead of the annual summit of the
SADC in Angola this week, where the region's heads of state will be under
international pressure to rebuke Mugabe over the disputed election and the
seizure of white-owned land in Zimbabwe.

Pahad said while the Zimbabwe issue was not on the summit's formal agenda, it
was likely to come up in the secretary-general's report on the state of the
region and could even be raised by the Zimbabwean government.

The troika is only to consider the Zimbabwean issue again at the end of the
suspension period in March. However, Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon
has been asked to resume efforts to engage with the Mugabe government on the
developments in the country, Commonwealth spokesman Joel Kibazo said.

"The secretary-general was mandated by heads of government and the troika to
talk to the Zimbabwean government and seek clarification on a number of issues.
It is important that dialogue starts. So far there has been little or no
response from the Zimbabwean government towards achieving that dialogue," Kibazo
said.

IF THE best time to invest is when blood is on the streets, Zimbabwe offers a
promising opportunity.

The country is in the throes of political upheaval, with 6 million hungry
people, an inflation rate of 135% and a shrinking economy. The rule of law is
collapsing. Judges are routinely intimidated. The government sends thugs to grab
commercial farms. And fears are growing of much worse civil strife to come.

Enter the bargain hunters - call them aasvoëls, Afrikaans for
vultures.Zimbabwe boasts vast quantities of valuable minerals, including one of
the world's largest deposits of platinum.

South Africa's Impala Platinum recently upped its shareholding to take
effective control of Zimbabwe Platinum Mines. It has also increased its stake in
a smaller platinum company, Mimosa.

Zimbabwe's fuel and energy shortages are also tempting outsiders. President
Robert Mugabe's Libyan allies have just renewed an annual $360-million deal to
cover most of the costs of importing oil. The Libyan government will get assets
once owned by the Zimbabwean state, including 14% of Jewel Bank and14% in
Rainbow, a tourism group, and maybe some land. Talks are said to be under way to
give Libya control of fuel tanks in Harare and the oil pipeline linking Zimbabwe
to a port in Mozambique.

Eskom, South Africa's energy utility, the world's fifth biggest, is eyeing
Zimbabwe's energy giant, Zesa, which is slated to be privatised. Zesa is fars
hort of the 200-million or so in hard currency it needs each year to pay for
equipment and to service debts accrued to Eskom, which supplies electricity to
Zimbabwe's grid. The South African supplier may hope eventually to swap debts
for a share in the Zimbabwean company, and is building a close partnership. Zesa
is increasingly reliant on the support of its South African big brother.

Most South African companies are understandably wary of doing business
inZimbabwe - until recently South Africa's biggest African trading partner but
now down to third place. Anglo American is reducing its investment in its citrus
and timber estates there, though it plans to retain its more lucrative mining
interests.

Other large trading firms still see opportunities. Last year Barloworld
bought a Zimbabwean cement and lime producer. SA Breweries is keeping its 25%
stake in Delta, a beverage company.

"There is huge consumer spending power in this market for trading
companies.Often people here have money for goods, but nothing to buy," says John
Robertson, an independent economist in Harare.

The World Food Programme expects to spend one-fifth of its 500-million food
budget on transporting grain within the region, about half of it in Zimbabwe.
Private-sector haulage firms, many of them South African, charge up to $90 for
every ton shifted. Other private traders are finding original ways to get goods
to Zimbabwean consumers. Two online firms, Sadza.com and Emoneytransport.com,
let well-wishers overseas send money and food to relatives in Zimbabwe via local
supermarkets.

The situation is desperate for most, but a few firms may have reason to
smile.

Reports of increasing incidents of torture against
members of Zimbabwe'spolitical opposition are circulating as rural elections
came to an endSunday. An opposition member of parliament was also arrested
Sunday.

An eyewitness in the eastern border town of Chimanimani said
Sunday sheheard the screams of a Movement for Democratic Change supporter
shortlyafter he was taken into custody by the government's Central
IntelligenceOrganization.

Mike Magwaza is the bodyguard for Member of
Parliament Roy Bennett, the onlywhite farmer left in the district. He was
arrested and accused by police ofdefying a government order to leave his
home and business last month.

A third person, believed to be a South
African citizen, was arrested aswell.

Another eight members of the
Movement for Democratic Change are in the samecells behind the police
station. A second eyewitness said some of them hadopen wounds and have not
eaten for four days.

Police and members of the Central Intelligence
Organization in Chimanimanideclined to answer questions Sunday.

In
Harare, five opposition supporters, including a prominent youth
leader,remain in detention and are, according to their lawyer, in need of
urgentmedical treatment.

The lawyer said the police have denied the
five access to a doctor. In anaffidavit he said he intended to present to
the court, the lawyer also saidall five showed signs of having been
assaulted.

One of the five, 18-year-old Tom Spicer, was separated from
his four friendsand told his lawyers he had been subjected to electric shock
treatment. Thelawyers said Saturday he was unable to focus his eyes and had
difficultywalking.

One lawyer for the five said he had spent 24 hours
looking for officialsfrom the Department of Justice to facilitate an urgent
application to theHigh Court to demand the detainees receive medical
treatment.

These arrests and allegations of torture are just the tip of
the iceberg,according to opposition supporters in various parts of Zimbabwe.
The reportscirculated against the background of countrywide rural elections
that endedSunday.

The government-appointed Electoral Supervisory
Commission said Saturday therun-up to the elections had been marred by
violence in parts of the country.

Eyewitnesses in the rural areas in
southern Zimbabwe said that by midday itappeared that less than 10 percent
of the electorate had turned out to vote.

More than half the opposition
candidates withdrew from the elections, citingintimidation and fear of
attacks, or were refused permission to
register.

HARARE, Sept 29
(Reuters) - Zimbabwe's main opposition said on Sunday policehad arrested a
prominent white politician and beaten other opponents asPresident Robert
Mugabe's supporters stepped up violence and intimidation atlocal government
polls.

The Movement for Democratic Change said Roy Bennett, an
oppositionlegislator, and eight others including his bodyguard were in
custody. It wasnot clear what the charges were.

Police officials
contacted by Reuters declined to comment.

"Roy is in the cells along with
eight others. He is not hurt but the resthave been badly beaten," said Doug
Vanderuit, a friend of Bennett and MDCmember. An MDC official who declined
to be named for fear of arrestconfirmed the report.

The two-day polls
ending Sunday are seen as a test of Mugabe's traditionalrural power base and
come amid a deepening economic and food crisis in thesouthern African
country.

Zimbabwe has been in turmoil since pro-government militants
began invadingwhite-owned farms in early 2000.

Bennett, a soldier in
the former Rhodesia, has often been a target ofMugabe's anti-white rhetoric.
Just weeks ago, he was warned by thegovernment for making a public statement
urging former colonial powerBritain to invade Zimbabwe to resolve the
political crisis in the country.

ALLEGATIONS OF
INTIMIDATION

The MDC says 700 of its candidates have been barred from
registering orintimidated from running in the polls.

On Sunday it
said it had received reports from various parts of the countryshowing the
ruling ZANU-PF had stepped up violence to prevent Zimbabweansfrom voting
freely.

"Several MDC candidates and their agents have been blocked from
entering thepolling stations while some have been assaulted and a few have
been reportedmissing," the MDC said.

Police and electoral officials
said they had not received any reports ofintimidation and Mugabe's ZANU-PF
party dismissed the charges as "a pack ofthe usual lies".

"The truth
is that the MDC is frustrated at its failure to win the supportof a majority
of the people of this country," a ZANU-PF spokesman said.

The allegations
were also dismissed by Thomas Bvuma, a spokesman for theElectoral
Supervisory Commission, who told Zimbabwe state radio theelections were
going smoothly and the authorities had not received
anycomplaints.

The MDC, which accuses Mugabe of stealing victory in a
presidential electionin March, says Mugabe has resorted to political
violence in the councilelections because he knows he would lose any free and
fair poll.

Mugabe, in power since independence from Britain in 1980, says
his landdrive is aimed at correcting colonial injustice, which left 70
percent ofthe country's best land in the hands of white farmers.

The
opposition says the land policies have contributed to a severe foodshortage
which is affecting nearly seven million people, or half thepopulation. The
government insists the shortages are solely the result
ofdrought.

Harare - Zimbabweans in rural areas voted Saturday
in elections for localcouncils, and the main opposition party said hundreds
of its candidates werebarred from running for office. Ruling party
militants, backed by police,blocked about 700 opposition candidates from
registering, officials from theopposition Movement for Democratic Change
said. About 20 oppositioncandidates were assaulted during campaigning and at
least another 70 werearrested on false charges, opposition officials said.
The government hasdenied involvement in any violence or intimidation of
opposition candidates.An appeal by the Movement for Democratic Change to
have the electionpostponed was thrown out by the High Court Friday, after
the presiding judgeruled the case was politically motivated. The court's
refusal to hear theappeal, "confirms our worst fears about the judiciary,"
said Movement forDemocratic Change Secretary General Welshman
Ncube.

Critics of the government say embattled President Robert
Mugabe has co-optedthe nation's courts by packing the bench with his
supporters andintimidating independent-minded judges in a bid to retain
power. However,the opposition turned to the courts Saturday, seeking an
order to letdoctors examine Thomas Spicer, an 18-year-old white opposition
activist, whothey say was tortured in police detention Friday. The police
had no commenton the case. Also Saturday, British diplomats said they had
been banned fromtravelling outside Harare without Zimbabwean government
permission inapparent retribution for outspoken criticism of Mugabe by the
Britishgovernment. Despite the controversy, polling ran smoothly Saturday.
Votingwould continue Sunday and results were not expected until
Monday.

Vice President Joseph Msika said the ruling Zanu-PF party
expected a massivevictory in what party officials said would be a show of
support for thegovernment's land reform program to seize white-owned farms
forredistribution to poor blacks. Many of those farms, however, have been
giveninstead to Mugabe's confidantes. Zimbabwe has been seized by more than
twoyears of political and economic turmoil, widely blamed on
Mugabe'sincreasingly unpopular ruling party. More than half Zimbabwe's 12.5
millionpeople face severe food shortages, blamed on drought and the
government'sland reform program which has ground commercial farming to a
standstill.Mugabe's ruling party narrowly won parliament elections in 2000,
survivingthe biggest threat to its hold on power since independence in 1980.
Mugabewon a disputed presidential election in March that independent
observerssaid was swayed by violence, intimation and vote
rigging.

The first South African refugee to Canada that we know of, has
landed! Noel Smith was harassed on his Natal farm and his life threatened so
many times that he finally fled to Canada. He arrived in Vancouver on a
visitor's visa with only a thousand Canadian dollars (SAR7,000) to his name and
he got his visa because of an old friend on Bowen Island, just off the coast
here. After a while on the island, he ended up sleeping in a cheap car he had
bought, with no money or food, in Stanley Park! At that point he met someone (a
New Zealander, nogal) who suggested he apply for refugee status at Immigration.
As evidence of his endangerment in SA, he simply showed the interviewing
official some SA crime statistics which he had got off the Internet, and the
official immediately granted him provisional refugee status, to be reviewed in a
year's time. At that point he received information on free food points and
shelters downtown, got his medical done for $10 and soon started to receive
about $400 per month plus free medical and free training so that he could find
gainful employment.

Noel is, I believe, the first of many refugees that
will be leaving SA and my question is the following: What happens, a year down
the line, if some bureaucrat decides in his infinite wisdom that Noel is not
entitled to refugee status, and wants to deport him back to the burnt remains of
his farm in SA? If the local 60,000 South Africans have got together and can
lobby in his favor, write the newspapers and call the radio and TV stations, he
has a chance. Last time SA's had a visa problem in British Columbia, the only
ones who stood up for them were Canadians! We have to stand together and support
each other. Communication is an important unifying factor and hence this e-zine
and upcoming web site, and soon to be radio show. We're not trying to replace
existing media - we're trying to enhance and add to what is already available to
South Africans. Let's be proud of our heritage. Most of us are, in fact,
refugees.

Most of us left SA to escape the increasing crime and
violence. Let us support the weak among us. Let's show the world what South
Africans are all about.It's a sad indictment that when SA's arrive at
Vancouver International Airport, there's no visible SA community to welcome and
support them. Let's take responsibility and change that.